Japan remains committed to moon missions as Trump cuts NASA budget JAXA chief says

TOKYO - Japan is ready to support the United States lower-cost lunar missions, its space agency chief said on Friday, after the U.S. administration proposed a $6 billion cut to NASAs budget that could upend the Artemis programme to return people to the moon.

U.S.-led Artemis, established during President Donald Trumps first term and joined by partners including Japan, the European Space Agency (ESA) and Canada, has grown into a multibillion-dollar project aiming to return astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972.

If the U.S. were considering a better alternative in terms of budget or economics, we must respond to it, Hiroshi Yamakawa, President of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA),told a monthly briefing.

Trump unveiled his 2026 budget proposal for NASA earlier this month. It would almost halve the agencys space science budget and reshape its exploration programmes to focus on Mars with cost-effective rockets and spaceships.

Japan signed an agreement with NASA last year to include two Japanese astronauts and a Toyota-made rover in future missions to the lunar surface.

While Trump and Japans Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba reaffirmed a partnership on Artemis missions in February, the budget proposal suggested NASA could cancel the Gateway, an internationally planned space station that was due for initial deployment near the moon in the fourth Artemis mission.

NASA said Gateway components already built could be repurposed for other missions and international partners will be invited to join these renewed efforts.

JAXA has jointly built a Gateway human habitation module with ESA and intended to use its cargo spacecraft HTV-X to resupply the station.

ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said in a statement last week that some questions still remain about the full repercussions of Trumps budget proposal and ESA was holding follow-up meetings with the U.S. space agency.